"Bed Bugs," in the Flooring Potpourri forum, begins: "Their's an Apartment coming up that had/has Bed Bugs An exterminator treated the existing carpet that's being replaced soon. My ..."
Their's an Apartment coming up that had/has Bed Bugs An exterminator treated the existing carpet that's being replaced soon. My question, the existing pad is only two years old and in good shape, What would you Do ?
A) No brainer, replace the pad
B) treat the pad with H D Bed Bugs Be-Gone spray and go over it
C) sub it out to someone you dis-like
D) Call OSHA
E) replace pad and apply bug repellent to skin and clothing + wear haz-mat suite
treat the pad with H D Bed Bugs Be-Gone spray and go over it
sub it out to someone you dis-like
Call OSHA
replace pad and apply bug repellent to skin and clothing + wear haz-mat suite
add your own method
I'd do B, then A. But it wouldn't be as simple as that. The carpet and the pad would have to be bagged (use those large, dark contractor bags and pack them loosely) and set outside in the hot sun long enough for the inside of the bag to get 120° F. for at least 20 minutes. Then the bags can be disposed of normally.
The exterminator may have killed the bugs, but what about the eggs? That's why this kind of care must be taken. Eggs are more difficult to remove and simple vacuuming may not do it.
Your own clothing, when you finish each day, should be removed outside, shaken out and then washed immediately in a temperature of at least 120° F. This will kill any bugs or eggs. Be sure to keep them out of your hair too, with something like this: Stockinet® Hairnets in Disposable Clothing - Head Protection
You are lucky that you have been told about the bugs. Many home owners are too embarrassed to say anything and think if they spray a little insecticide around that they have killed the little buggers. Not always the case. Whenever I did an estimate and smelled insecticide, I assumed it was to kill bed bugs or some other nasty little creature.
Bed bugs haven't been proven to carry disease, but that doesn't mean they aren't a health risk. The kind of care and the procedures that must be done to remove the bug and egg infested materials (so they don't re-infest the new materials) means that there will be an additional cost. In the average room, you may be adding an hour or more of extra time and an additional expense for bags and protective gear. Explaining the danger and procedures to the customer will ensure that you get paid for this extra service - and it could be a nice little profit for you.
Those Bombs work fine , and if you put mothballs in the vac it will kill the eggs .
I did a apartment complex years ago and they sent me into a infested apt without telling me.
After 15 minutes i had all kind of bite marks on my legs.
I went down and told them off at the office. The maintenance guy start laughing till i asked him if he would like me to roll him up in one of the scraps and see if it was funny then.
Only had to deal with the little critters once and we weren't informed. Take up in the van, ready to put the pad down and we were both itching. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?!
Asked the slum lord and he said he didn't think it would be a problem but the last residents had to throw out all of their furniture. Jerk.
Anyway, we called it off for the day, made him buy the bug bombs for both the unit and my van and went home. Bombed the van once with the demo inside, unloaded the next morning and bombed it again that night.
First day we both stripped in the yard and threw the clothing away. Second day we wore cast off clothing from the thrift store to get rid of the demo and then changed behind the warehouse with a bucket of water over the head for good measure.
Too bad the web and boards like this weren't around back then, could have saved a pair of jeans. Thanks for the advice and the article guys.
edit: oh, and "A". plus a bug bomb after the old carpet is removed and everything has been vacuumed/swept. Sounds like the demo should be scheduled for Fri afternoon
Thanks Jim !---- AFP ? is that "Americas Funniest Person" ---- very nice ! when did you launch that publication ?
Excellent Article, especially since my name appears in their.
O My ! Bed Bug treatment requires some diligent and disciplined procedures. I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge. I may refuse the removal / disposal of carpet + pad and request that the Apartment Maintenance men or an exterminator do this.
Thanks again Jim for the Professional written article explaining the precautions, procedures and the medical link, this way, If I choose to quote and provide the service, I can do it with some confidence.
Thanks Jim !---- AFP ? is that "Americas Funniest Person" ---- very nice ! when did you launch that publication ?
That's aFP, thank you very much. It's actually an off-shoot of 2 different websites. The design was created a couple years ago when I tried to get "a Floor Pro Network" off the ground. That was supposed to be a blogging platform for flooring professionals, but as it turns out, flooring pros weren't interested in blogging. It's where the original business directory was too. It was a very expensive mistake.
The other site it comes from is my old flooring business website, JM Floor Covering. I had only a couple of articles on it and I kept getting calls from people that lived in my area wanting to know if I would give them an estimate. So, I combined the 2 and hope it will do some good to the flooring community. I can post guest articles, how-tos, reviews and pretty much the same kind of stuff we have here at TFP in the article pages.
My hope is it will help bring more traffic to TFP, provide another source for articles (it's okay to duplicate articles on other sites, just not duplicates on the same site) and, of course, help bring in a few dollars from the ads to help pay the server costs.
If anyone has an article they want to see published, just let me know.
Excellent Article, especially since my name appears in their.
Glad you like it. One of the great advantages of having a site like that would be to link your name to a website - if you had one. The second best thing to do in a case like that would be to link to your listing in the Pro Directory. In that case, I would include your location, along with your name, so that it would target people who live and buy flooring in your area and are looking on the Internet for someone to buy and/or get installation from.
Hint, hint.
O My ! Bed Bug treatment requires some diligent and disciplined procedures. I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge. I may refuse the removal / disposal of carpet + pad and request that the Apartment Maintenance men or an exterminator do this.
Be careful who you rely on. Will they do it right and allow you to come in to a place they didn't do a good job in and let you carry bugs home with you unaware? If you know it has been infected, then insist on an exterminator and insist on seeing the receipt.
Thanks again Jim for the Professional written article explaining the precautions, procedures and the medical link, this way, If I choose to quote and provide the service, I can do it with some confidence.
Thank you for the great influence and motivation. There are other things I should be doing sometimes, but this topic just struck me with an idea I hoped would help someone now or later.
An exterminator treated the existing carpet that's being replaced soon. My question, the existing pad is only two years old and in good shape, What would you Do ?
giving the job to some you know and knows you
